Even Tom Cruise uses Sina Weibo

News has broken that the American movie star Tom Cruise or more affectionately known as “Tom Brother” (“阿汤哥“) by Chinese, has officially joined Sina Weibo on February 23.

“We’re having fun talking to you and our new friends at http://t.sina.com.cn. It’s the Chinese Twitter, but with a lot more functionality,” tweeted Tom Cruise, announcing the move to his Twitter followers.

His Weibo account has exploded, already generating 169,495 fans.

Could this be the start of more Western celebrities opening a Weibo account?

Sina has been a money making machine. It announced as of December 31, 2010 full year financial results net revenues of USD$110,000,000 (12% increase from last year) with advertising revenue of USD$82,500,000 (30% increase from last year). Said Sina CEO Charles Chao

Jason– great posts! I like your insights…. I am an American-based entrepreneur and have been involved in a few start-ups involving China….

Will you be at SXSW? Would love to meet if you are!

Best, Bobby

Jason Lim

Hi Bobby, thanks for your appreciation! It would be cool to get your perspective on doing start-ups in China as an American. Please add me to LinkedIn. You can find me through searching Technode.com and email me at jason.lim@technode.com

Unfortunately I won’t be at SXSW. I would love to go though! I have friends going, perhaps you can met them there? Let’s talk more.

TechNode is a tech blog, written in both English and Chinese, focused on startups and tech happenings in China and Asia in general. TechNode also organizes TechNode Touch (TNT), a monthly meetup for startups, and ChinaBang Awards, an annual event that rewards the best Chinese startups, in Chinese tech cities. TechNode is the official partner of TechCrunch in China and manages TechCrunch.cn and TechCrunch conferences in China.